Colm BarryWith the growing popularity in content and social marketing, the last year has seen a big increase in the number of Stock Photo sites popping up and offering quality free high-res images for use in blogs and social media posts. Despite this, it has always been difficult to find good quality free HD video stock footage. Most royalty-free photos or video sites can be very expensive and out of the price range of most small businesses and home users. However, times are changing.
Like with music, some videos sites require you to credit the author using a (Creative Commons License) but by doing so, you can generally use and edit the video anyway you want to. That’s not to much to ask for really and is a pretty good trade-off for free usage. The video below was created using free video stock footage from a number of different sites outlined below.
Mazwai
This is one of the best sites for high-quality HD videos and is perfect for any project you maybe working on. The site is also really easy to use. On the homepage, you can browse and preview any video by scrolling over it and if you want to use one, simply click on the video and you will be brought in to media player. Here you view the entire video and download it using the download button in the bottom right of the media player. Simply “Save” the video to your hard-drive. To reduce the size, it will download in zip format. When it has downloaded, simply unzip the folder and you will have an .MP4 ready to use at your disposal. Mazwai requires you to credit the author in some way using Creative Commons 3.0.
Videvo
This is another great site with tons of great HD videos. Everything on Videvo is free to use for commercial or non-commercial usage. They have even developed a “Videvo Standard License” for this very purpose, and for any clips licensed under there is no need to credit the original author, which can sometimes be a hassle in a production. But be aware, some have a second licensing option implemented which is the Creative Commons 3.0 license. I think though as a general rule, if you are given something for free and you use it, it is always nice to credit the person either in the credits or in the video description on a video hosting platform like Youtube or Vimeo. This way you will always cover yourself with most Creative Commons licenses.
Vimeo
Vimeo, the video hosting site, also offers a collection of free videos for download. Even though it’s not quite as extensive as the ones mentioned above, they still provide over 200 free videos for download. As the saying goes “Never look a gift horse in the mouth”.
Honorable mentions.
Dissolve
Although this site provides royalty-free stock videos which are quite expensive, they offer 3 free videos every month. That said, their paid videos are excellent quality and they have also an extensive collection to choose from. For those projects that may need a specific type of video, this could be the perfect resource for those willing to spend a little extra to get that exact look and feel for their video.
VideoBlocks
Again this is a paid stock site, however, they offer a free 7 day trial where you can download up to 20 videos a day (140 videos over the length of the trial). There is a catch though. As a part of the trial you have to give your credit card details and if you do not cancel your trial within the 7 days, you will be charged for the following month at $ 70. This site also has a sister site called – StockFootageForFree – which has some free downloads, however, most link back to VideoBlocks where you must sign up to continue to download videos.
This post first appeared on the trakax.com blog.
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